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Testing and Simulation of a Thermoacoustic Transducer Prototype

Thermoacoustic transduction is the transformation of thermal energy fluctuations into sound. Devices fabricated by appropriate materials utilise such a mechanism in order to achieve acoustic wave generation by direct application of an electrical audio signal and without the use of any moving components. A thermoacoustic transducer causes local vibration of air molecules resulting in a proportional pressure change. The present work studies an implementation of this alternative audio transduction technique for a prototype developed on silicon wafer. Measurements of the performance of this hybrid solid state device are presented and compared to the theoretical principles of its operation which are evaluated via simulations.